Insurgents Attack In Western Iraq

(CBS/AP)  Insurgents attacked several U.S. bases and government offices with mortars and rockets Thursday before dispersing in the capital of western Iraq's Anbar province, residents and police said.

The attacks in Ramadi occurred as local tribal leaders and U.S. military officials were to hold their second meeting in a week at the governor's office in the city center. The insurgents apparently tried to shell the building, but reporters inside said there was no damage or injuries.

The U.S. military played down reports by residents and police of widespread attacks Thursday against American and Iraqi installations in the city. The military said only one rocket-propelled grenade was fired at an observation post, causing no casualties.
Police Lt. Mohammed al-Obaidi said at least four mortar rounds fell near the U.S. base on the city's eastern edge. Residents also said scores of masked gunmen, believed to be members of al Qaeda in Iraq, ran into the streets but dispersed after launching attacks with mortars.

A U.S. Marine spokesman in Ramadi said reports of insurgents taking control of Ramadi are completely unsubstantiated and only a few small arms engagements occurred Thursday, reports CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick.

But an AP Television News video showed the insurgents walking down a shuttered market street and a residential neighborhood, as well as firing four mortar rounds. The masked men, however, looked relaxed and did not engage in any battles, and no U.S. bases or government buildings were shown.

CBS News correspondent Lara Logan reports that insurgents brazenly attacked Thursday in broad daylight, just as they had the same day that Congressman John Murtha demanded U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq. She reports that it's a day-by-day battle to hold on to the main road that runs through Ramadi and keep supplies moving to other troops.

"That's been an insurgent stronghold as long as we've been in country," said 2nd Lt. Joe Walker, referring to Saddam Mosque. "They feel safe in there."

In other developments:

Suicide bombings fell in November to their lowest level in seven months, the American military said Thursday, citing the success of U.S.-Iraqi military operations against insurgent and foreign fighter sanctuaries near the Syrian border. But the trend in Iraq has not resulted in less bloodshed: 85 U.S. troops died during the month, one of the highest tolls since the invasion.

In a campaign to win U.S. trust on Iraq, CBS chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff admitted today mistakes had been made. "We, guys like me, have not articulated well enough what is happening in Iraq and in Afghanistan," Pace said.

A public relations firm, the Lincoln Communications group has been paying Iraqi journalists and newspaper to write and run about 100 stories favorable to America, Roberts reports. The White House has said it was "very concerned about the reports."

The German government still has had no contact from the kidnappers of a German woman seized nearly a week ago in Iraq, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday. Archeologist Susanne Osthoff and her Iraqi driver were taken last Friday, and were pictured in a videotape blindfolded on a floor, with militants standing beside them.

The British anti-war movement said Thursday it is sending one of its leading members to Iraq to try to secure the release of four kidnapped peace activists, including Briton Norman Kember.

Iraq's interior minister dismissed the senior inspector in charge of human rights on Thursday in connection with a scandal involving the torture of dozens of prisoners at a Baghdad prison, an official close to the minister said.

The U.S. has just kicked off another offensive near Ramadi in an effort to clear the area of insurgents, reports McCormick.

Ramadi is the provincial capital of Anbar province, a Sunni stronghold, where clashes between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi troops have left hundreds of people dead in the past two years.

About 500 Iraqi troops have joined 2,000 U.S. Marines, soldiers and sailors in a move to clear insurgents from an area on the eastern side of the Euphrates river near Hit, 85 miles west of Baghdad, the U.S. command said in a statement.

• 1
• 2
• Next Page »